And after much ado, Chapter 6! Thanks to MirandaAganir- I'm going with a more realistic plot first :)

Nearly two years after her marriage, Lena was playing a singing game with Sura and several children and holding her own fairly well. She was finishing up a rendition of a folksong her father had often sung when she saw Usan walk past their group with his lieutenants. It was so rare to see him frowning that the sight made Lena falter in her song and the children to cheer their victory.

"What is it?" Sura asked, shooing the children off to play.

Lena's eyes stared after her husband. "I'm not sure, but something's happened." She followed after the trio, catching up with them at the entrance of the spring library.

"I'll send two of the guard to scout out the town before the court makes the journey." Dirzal said and Usan gave a short nod of permission.

"What's going on?" she asked and all three men turned to her with the same look of being caught discussing something they didn't want overheard. Dirzal and Tibir excused themselves as Usan wrapped Lena in his arms.

"Boarstusk sent me a message about a human who has been in the Hollow Lake village for several months. He's been asking suspicious questions about the Richardson family lately."

Lena looked up at this. "What kind of questions?"

Usan made a little shrug as if the matter weren't too concerning for him. "Questions about the family's history. He apparently is very interested about when exactly the family came to the Hill. Boarstusk is more worried about his curiosity about the legends the humans tell about the disappearing girls. The man's apparently found it very interesting that the Richardson's lost two daughters."

"He won't find anything will he?" she asked. Lena couldn't help but wonder how deep someone with a bit of knowledge would have to dig into Hollow Hill to discover that there was something going on there. There were literally centuries worth of stories about girls going missing; she found it incredible that no one had investigated the Hill before, but Usan had brushed her off when she'd raised the question before. As she looked up at her husband's face now, Lena decided not to remind him of this. Instead, she tugged at his hand. "Let's go for a walk. The stars look so pretty reflected on the lake from up on the hill."

"Later my love. I need to speak to the Scholars first." He kissed her and headed off to where the Scholars met. Lena frowned after him, reading the truth that he hadn't told her everything in how his shoulders tensed again as Usan walked with a cadence that sent his elves scurrying out of his way. She gave a little smirk at how terrible he was at hiding his emotions before she went off to find Sura again, ignoring the returning tightening in her stomach. The past few nights Lena had struggled in the early evening with little cramps that warned her that eating food would be a bad idea. As a result, she has stuck to water and fruit, but tonight her stomach decided on a greater rebellion. Lena bolted behind a tree before anyone could see her and retched until her meager breakfast lay spattered on the ground. A cool, soothing touch was on her neck and she turned to see Kiba smiling sympathetically at her.

"Elf women do not have the same troubles as human women, but Sika had the same illness when she was pregnant with the King." Kiba waved her hand and the vomit was neatly buried in the earth."

Lena blinked at her, unaware that her free hand had flown to her stomach. "Wh-wh- you- you think I'm pregnant?" Mentally, she counted back to her last course and realized that it had been two months ago. Still shocked by the realization, Lena turned her attention back to Kiba. "I don't understand, can Usan not tell with his magic?"

Kiba laughed as if she'd said something utterly hilarious. "Commoner or king, I don't think a man has the magic to sense that!" Her laughter eased to a chuckle. "I'll make you some of the remedy that Sika used. It will help with the evening sickness." As Lena followed the elf woman towards her tent, her mind reeled as she tried to come to terms with a magical pregnancy. She knew about birth of course; it was impossible not to have seen animals born on the ranch and her mother had taken Lena with her when she'd gone to help at a neighbor's labor, but those experiences told her nothing about what to expect. There wouldn't be nine months of excited anticipation to find out the gender of her baby; it had been very clear that both races King's Wives had always borne sons. Unlike her mother and their female neighbors, Lena also knew that this would be her only pregnancy. She swallowed back a bitter pang at the reminder. She'd never given much thought as to having a family of her own growing up, but when she did there had always been more than one child in her imaginings. Lena suddenly stopped. Her parents would never know about their grandson. Realizing that her patient was no longer behind her, Kiba stopped as well and turned with a worried look on her face back to Lena. She hurriedly wiped away the sudden tears welling in her eyes; the elf woman wouldn't understand why she was upset, and even if Kiba did there was nothing she could do about it. Lena caught up with her and they continued on their way.

Later that night, Lena sat onto on the hill she had wanted to walk to with Usan earlier, staring at the mirror of the lake. It was almost impossible to tell where sky ended and lake began. Absentmindedly, her fingers plucked blades of grass for something to do while she watched the stars and listened to the distant music coming up from the dancing meadow. Footsteps approached and she turned to see Usan making his way towards her.

"I did mean to come up here with you." He said apologetically, clearly worried that he had upset her. "You didn't have to come alone."

She gave him a reassuring smile and shook her head. "You were busy and I knew you'd find me." He sat down beside her, and as the elf King's arm wrapped around her shoulder, Lena wondered just how she would tell him. But Usan spoke before she could say anything.

"I wish it were possible for our son to have your eyes instead of mine." He murmured as his fingers played with the end of one of her braids. "They are one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen." Startled, Lena turned to look at him, her mouth in an O of surprise. Grinning, Usan closed her lips with a kiss. "Kiba told me." He explained and then held her out. "You aren't upset by this are you?" Utan's voice was pained with worry and to Lena's astonishment, a little bit of fear.

"Of course not." She replied, catching his hand up in hers. And it was true that it wasn't carrying the Heir that made her sad, but she did not have the words to explain to Usan what did. The sheer elation and joy on the elf King's face when she said this was breathtaking, and Lena let her wordless sorrows disappear into the beauty of it.